http://www.spacedaily.com/index.html Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST en-us Missions to Mars have only scratched its surface. To go deeper, scientists are proposing a spacecraft that can drill into the Red Planet to potentially find signs of life. The driving goal for exploring Mars is finding signs of life, said planetary scientist Christopher McKay at NASA's Ames Research Center. There are mountains of evidence that Mars was once home to liquid water on its surf]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST While Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited Earth's moon for three days in December 1972, they drove their mission's Lunar Roving Vehicle 19.3 nautical miles (22.210 statute miles or 35.744 kilometers). That was the farthest total distance for any NASA vehicle driving on a world other than Earth until yesterday. The team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opp]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST Much like the inside of an operating room, in the clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., engineers worked meticulously to implant part of the eyes of the James Webb Space Telescope. They scrubbed up and suited up to perform one of the most delicate performances of their lives. That part of the eyes, the MIRI, or Mid-Infrared Instrument, will glimpse the formation of ]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST Scientists using images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have estimated that the planet is bombarded by more than 200 small asteroids or bits of comets per year forming craters at least 12.8 feet (3.9 meters) across. Researchers have identified 248 new impact sites on parts of the Martian surface in the past decade, using images from the spacecraft to determine when the crater]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST The third Ariane 5 for launch in 2013 has now completed basic build-up at the Spaceport, taking the next step toward Arianespace's two-passenger mission planned from French Guiana in July. This heavy-lift workhorse was equipped with its upper cryogenic stage and vehicle equipment bay inside the Spaceport's Launcher Integration Building, installed as a single "upper composite" atop the core]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST The Eutelsat 3D telecommunications satellite was successfully launched by ILS from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, using a Proton launch vehicle. Thales Alenia Space is the program prime contractor on behalf of Eutelsat Communications, one of the world's leading providers of fixed satellite services (FSS). The Eutelsat 3D design allows it to operate from several orbital positions, i]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST NASA officials announced Wednesday, May 15, that the Kepler space telescope - the agency's primary instrument for detecting planets beyond our solar system - had suffered a critical failure and could soon be shut down permanently. Scott Hubbard, a consulting professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford's School of Engineering, served as director of NASA Ames Research Center during]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST Engineers install J-2X engine E10002 in the A-1 test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center. The installation is in preparation for a new series of tests, where the engine will be gimbaled, or pivoted, during test firings. Gimbal tests are an important part of the design process. When this upper stage engine is used in space, it will need to be able to move freely to steer NASA's Space Launc]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST The first Arianespace Soyuz mission for O3b Networks has moved into its next phase of preparations at the Spaceport, as fueling is now underway with the global satellite services provider's spacecraft that will provide connectivity for emerging markets worldwide. This upcoming medium-lift Soyuz launch - designated Flight VS05 in Arianespace's launcher family numbering system - will orbit f]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST With the launch of the fourth GPS IIF satellite, Boeing and the U.S. Air Force continue modernizing the Global Positioning System that millions of people worldwide rely on as a navigation and timing resource. The IIF offers improved navigational accuracy and anti-jamming resistance, along with a stronger military signal and longer design life. Boeing has been a prime GPS contractor since t]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST The first satellite of Galileo's next phase has arrived at ESA's technical heart in the Netherlands for a rigorous set of tests to check its readiness for launch. This first Galileo Full Operational Capability - FOC - satellite is functionally identical to the first four Galileo In-Orbit Validation satellites already in orbit, the operational nucleus of the full Galileo constellation, but ]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems Dream Chaser flight vehicle arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., Wednesday to begin tests of its flight and runway landing systems. The tests are part of pre-negotiated, paid-for-performance milestones with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), which is facilitating U.S.-led companies' development of spacecraft ]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST Boeing has a new satellite customer under a contract to design and deliver one Boeing 702HP high-power spacecraft to ViaSat Inc. in 2016. The satellite, ViaSat-2, will provide high-speed satellite broadband services to subscribers of the ViaSat Exede Internet service, as well as address its growing mobile broadband businesses. The companies also will cooperatively offer the system to other]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST Chinese scientists expressed their confidence in the commercial application of the BeiDou satellite navigation system (BDS) and called for international cooperation at a forum on Thursday. Sun Jiadong, chief designer of the BDS and an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said fusing satellite navigation with information technologies will produce more products based on spatial ]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST The atom-sized world of carbon nanotubes holds great promise for a future demanding smaller and faster electronic components. Nanotubes are stronger than steel and smaller than any element of silicon-based electronics-the ubiquitous component of today's electrical devices-and have better conductivity, which means they can potentially process information faster while using less energy. The ]]> Fri, 17 MAY 2013 23:36:04 AEST